


Love Like You

by GalaxyMuse



Category: Saint Seiya, Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac (Cartoon 2019)
Genre: Dorks in Love, F/M, Humor, Icebreaker, In Denial, Party, Perfume, Slow Burn, alone at night
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-29
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2020-07-24 22:49:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 14,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20022307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GalaxyMuse/pseuds/GalaxyMuse
Summary: He was certain they were all cronies, just part of Sienna's facade. A foolish attempt to impersonate Athena. But it turned out he was wrong. Wrong about what Sanctuary had told him for years, wrong about who Sienna really was, and maybe wrong about how much he could keep in frozen stasis inside. Loss can only stay locked in for so long.She had believed for so long that her brother was gone. Then he wasn't. She had held firm in her belief that self-defense was enough to serve Athena. But maybe it's not. This mysterious woman who ran an underground competition was the Goddess she needed to protect. In a matter of days her world and everything she thought had changed. She didn't know what to be sure of anymore.Only the Cosmo held within them was their compass. It pointed to Sienna, and to each other.A Magnus/Shaun multichapter series. NOTE: Full story begins on Chapter 2Thanks always to Overactive Imagination for help with editing!





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hi Everyone, thanks for checking out my Shagnus fic! 
> 
> So this initial chapter, which was originally a one-shot, was written once season 1 was released. I was kind of grasping at straws in trying to find a way to make this ship to work, and from a silly prompt from my friend/editor we got this. Feel free to read it if this is your first time here, but the next chapter is really where the fic begins. This one-shot will appear in the story later on so you're not going to miss anything. I just wanted to preserve where this whole thing started, and give the option if you're here for a nice concise fluff moment. Either way I hope you enjoy!!

There were just too many damn options. Fighting droves of giant mechanically armed knights was a cakewalk compared to this. 

Deciding to take a breather from everything that had happened, Sienna proposed a small party at her sizable cabin tucked away in the woods. It was off any kind of grid, so it was a safe guarantee that Guraad wouldn’t be able to find them. Besides, after the beating his army took they would need time to regroup. Prior to the get-together, Sienna had arranged a trip for them to the nearest city. It was an opportunity to stock up on supplies that they all were running low on from their time in the desert.

Shaun didn’t have much in the way of a wardrobe to choose from for any kind of party, given that knights needed to pack light. But, toiletries were a must. A few tampon packs were tucked under her arm, and the next essential she needed was deodorant. This led her to the current choice paralysis on which scent to get.

Shaun stood helpless in the aisle, looking at the countless choices. Could b.o. even penetrate the under-suit of her armor? Then again, she wasn’t going to be wearing her armor tonight. 

“Why do you even care?” she asked herself, “Just get the last one you bought and go!” 

But she didn’t want to do that. She didn’t want to smell the same. Why didn’t she want to smell the same? Who was even going to stand close enough to her to smell it?

Rather, the small voice in her head asked, who did she want close enough?

He was on the other side of the aisle. He gave her a quick glance, and the two quickly turned their heads back to what they were doing.

“The lavender. No, the gardenia. Oh my god Shaun, when has that ever mattered?”

“Hey-” 

Shaun whipped around at the sound of his voice behind her. “Hey,” she said. “I'm just taking a while to remember which one I liked,” she said, waving her hand over the plethora of options. 

Magnus cracked a soft smile and held up a stick of his own, a men’s brand. “I have no idea how anyone picks anything around here with all these options,” he wondered aloud, examining the shiny label on his.

“You used to only having fifty were you’re from as opposed to 200? What a sad life,” she said sarcastically.

“I’m lucky if there’s more than three,” he joked back. 

Shaun giggled while Magnus only chuckled through his nose. Calm and collected in every circumstance, even if he started off a reluctant member of this ragtag team deemed the Right Ones. It was a title she was still trying to get the hang of herself. She didn’t always feel like some kind of prophesied heroine, but perhaps it’d just take time for her to grow into it. 

Magnus on the other hand? He fit the role perfectly. Capable and ready on the offense. He even saved her in the volcano from her own brother’s attack. But the clash of emotions from her reunion with Nero was something she was still keeping buried deep down. Something to deal with later. Tonight there was a celebration and she would revel in it. Take a breather. Besides, getting to know her new friends in something other than a fight for their lives sounded fun. 

Bearing that in mind, she turned back to the rows of sticks. “Eeny meeny miney mo,” She plucked her chosen scent and smiled back at Magnus. “Guess it was easier than I thought.”

“Summer rose?” he asked, his eyes having fallen on the label. Something in his normally composed exterior softened. “She liked roses.”

Shaun was intrigued. “She?” 

A small flinch passed his countenance. “Someone I knew,” he quickly answered, fidgeting with his deodorant stick. 

A beat passed, and Shaun felt the need to swap subjects. “So you looking forward to tonight?”

Magnus nodded. “It’ll be nice to get a break after all that’s happened.”

“I’m sort of surprised you’re looking forward to it,” she teased, “not too long ago you were dead set on killing us.”

“Depending on how obnoxious Seiya and Jab get tonight, I might still have to,” he said in a low voice so the others didn’t have a chance of hearing in the aisles over. 

They shared a snicker, but Shaun’s conscience kicked in. “They’re not so bad I think,” she replied. “Sometimes you just gotta be headstrong to get things done, you know? I guess we saw that firsthand already.”

He smirked, a hand on his hip. “You really give people the benefit of the doubt, don’t you?”

She shrugged. “I’d just want the same done for me, is all.”

“Me too I guess,” he admitted, shifting his glance away from her.  
Clearly there was a touch of embarrassment there, maybe from his snap judgments of their team the day they met. A soft nervous laugh escaped him, and Shaun found it amusing. He was kind of cute when caught off-guard. 

Wait. Did she just think he was cute?

Shaun bounced on her heels to let her jitters out. “Already granted,” she assured him, snapping back to the conversation at hand.

Magnus shook his head and smiled again. “Good to know. I’ll see you later I guess,” he said, giving her another small smile as he left towards another aisle.

She waved as he turned away, finally letting go of tension in her shoulders she suddenly became aware of. Giving them a light rub to ease their aching, she took a moment to collect herself. That had to be the strangest interaction she’d had with him yet.

She checked a nearby cosmetic mirror to see if there was red across her face, her cheeks feeling as hot as they did. She looked at the deodorant in her hand. Something about roses made him uncomfortable, and she didn’t want to see him like that. She wanted to see him with that nervous little smile again. 

In that moment, she realized deodorant didn’t need to be her top concern.

Her go-to stick it was. Swapping them out, she figured so many boundaries had been broken in her life lately that it was time to bust another one. Clenched fists in anticipation, she strode stiffly to an aisle she hadn’t paid much mind to before in the shops: perfumes. 

“Right then,” she mumbled to herself, “anything that’s not rosy smelling.” So tunneled were her sights on the curved bottles and boxes, she didn’t realize there was someone else in the aisle until she bumped into them.

“Oh! I’m so sor-”

“No no, I didn’t see you eith-”

That was a familiar voice. She looked up.

Her eyes met Magnus’ again, his hand on a small cologne bottle. 

Eyes locked and froze. Shaun was certain now her cheeks had to be red. After all, his were too.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The following takes place during Season 2 Episodes 1-2, while Seiya is in the middle of battling Misty and before Morris and Asterion come into the scene with the "bodies" of the other bronzes.
> 
> (THE FULL FIC NOW BEGINS HERE!)

Her sight was blurry when she awoke to the night sky above. Once the ringing in her ears stopped, they were filled with the sounds of the ocean. Sitting up with a splitting headache, she saw the cave's entrance entirely closed off by boulders. 

Despite how disastrous the scene appeared, she was sure Nero escaped. How she managed to do so was beyond her. She looked around to find herself alone. Puzzling as it was, she was fine with it. Shaun didn’t want anyone to see her weeping over the monster her brother had become. 

In her heart of hearts, she hoped it wasn’t true. She prayed they had faced some kind of imposter, that eventually she’d find him somewhere on this beach and back to his old self.

The salt of her tears and the sand stung her scraped skin, but they pulled her back to the present. She could mull later. Right now, she had to find the team. 

“Seiya!” she called out, figuring him as the de facto leader by now. Silence answered back. 

“Long?” Nothing again. Perhaps the coastline was larger than she had thought.

“Shaun? Shaun! Where are you?”

She turned towards a familiar voice near some fallen boulders. 

“Magnus!” she called back. “I’m coming!” 

Climbing over the rocks, she met him halfway along his ascent on the other side. 

“You alright?” Magnus asked while keeping his balance. He looked just as worse for wear as she did. 

“Alive I guess, you?”

“I’m fine. You’re the first one I’ve seen out here, though.”

“Same here. How did we even escape in the first place?”

“Not a clue, but at least we’re out.”

“Good point.” Her eyes lit up. “And hey, if we made it, then that’s gotta be a good sign for the rest of them!”

“We should head to that cliff,” he said, pointing to one in the distance. “We might get a better view from up there.” 

“Right. Let’s go!”

The moon lit their way as they raced towards the lookout point. Aside from the waves and the clanking of their armor, things were quiet. Too quiet for Shaun’s comfort, especially after everything that had transpired. 

They reached the top and began to scan the beach for the others. 

“Anything?” Shaun asked.

“No,” he replied, crossing his arms. “It’d be pathetic if that’s all it took for them to die.”

She punched his shoulder. “Don’t talk like that! It’s rude!”

“Ow!” He rubbed the sore spot. “Just saying, that’s all.”

“Some team we are,” she mused sourly. “Split up in the span of two minutes, and one guy takes half of us for dead.”

“I didn’t think you were the sarcastic type.”

She shrugged. “I’m full of surprises according to all of you. We should wait up here in case we see them,” she said, taking a seat on a flat rock nearby.   
  
With enough room for them both, Magnus sat down back-to-back with her. The serene yet uncomforting quiet of the shore was their company as they kept watch for their friends.    
  
He was the first to break the tense silence. “I’m sorry about your-”

Her nails scraped across the rock as he spoke. “Not right now. Please.” The tension in her voice made it clear he had hit a nerve.   
  
Magnus bit his lip. “Sorry.”   
  
She closed her eyes, letting the breeze ease her. “It’s fine. Besides, that’s not the Nero I know. We’ll find him come sunrise. I’m sure it'll all make sense when we do.”   
  
Magnus had his doubts, but this clearly wasn’t the time to voice them. 

  
“But since you brought it up, I owe you thanks,” she admitted.

“For what?”

“Blocking that attack he tried to use on me.” She shivered in terror at the memory. 

Magnus waved it off. “Don’t mention it. It’s what teammates do, right? ‘The power of friendship’ as Seiya put it?”

“I guess it comes in handy doesn’t it?” she teased. “He seems to be the sentimental type. I’m not surprised he worded it like that.”

“All of you seem that way,” he mocked. “A bit of a weak spot if you ask me.”   
  
She grit her teeth, fed up with the aloof act he continued to flaunt. “Well excuse us for having feelings. I guess when you become an ice knight they tell you to freeze them? Is that why they recruited you to kill Sienna?”

  
Old habits die hard, Magnus thought to himself. If he was going to commit to Athena, then he’d have to learn to let up on the more cynical side of himself.   
  
He sighed in embarrassment. “Sorry, that was-”   
  
“Cold of you?” Shaun turned around to give him a playful smile.

He facepalmed at the pun. “I should have seen that coming.”   
  
“You really should have,” she giggled. Even a blip of humor briefly lifted a weight off her chest.   
  
“But yes, you’re right,” he continued. “It’s been...an eye opening day. Even more so for you, I’m sure.”   
  
“Understatement of the year,” she said with a wry smile. “And I didn’t mean what I said either. We’re all human, and we just went through a lot. I think it’s bringing the worst out of me right now.”

In the warm understanding she granted, he felt his guard coming down. “I know where you’re coming from," he started to explain. "I’ve been there-sort of.”

Shaun raised a brow. “What do you mean?”

The sound of a blast from behind interrupted them. Rising up and turning around, they spotted a figure flying through the air and landing headfirst close by. 

“Long!” they cried, recognizing him and rushing to his side. 

“What happened?” Shaun asked as Magnus propped him up. 

“Guys?” he groaned as he opened his eyes. 

“Yeah, it's us! What happened to you?” Magnus pressed.

The question answered itself as two knights leapt up from the direction Long came from. Landing on their knees, they smiled fiendishly at their quarry. 

The first to speak was a tall hulk of man, wearing the blue-steel Whale armor. “Ready to kill three birds with one stone, Asterion?”    
  
“It’s like you read my mind Morris,” said the other, smaller and more slender in frame. His white-steel Hound armor matched Morris's in detail and, more pressingly, rank.

Shaun’s eyes widened. “Those are-”

“Silver knights,” Magnus growled. “They must have been sent to do my job when I didn’t report back.”

Shaun rose to prepare for another fight. The only silver knight she had known up to this point was her Master, so she was well aware of their strength- and it certainly wasn’t something to take lightly.

“Long! Can you stand?” she asked as she took her position at the front.

“I think I’m gonna need a minute,” he replied, shaking his head in an effort to cling to consciousness.

“We can buy you that,” she said firmly, flashing a thumbs up. “Just get yourself somewhere safe!”    
  
“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Long promised, “I just have to do something first!” Struggling to get up, he gave them an assuring nod as he leapt off the cliff back to the shore below. 

Magnus ran to Shaun’s side and prepared his fighting stance. “Any idea how we’ll buy that time?” he asked as he fired up his cosmo.   
  
“Not a one. But we’re pretty good at improvising,” she joked nervously.

Magnus rolled his eyes with an equally unassured smile. Standing back to back, they eyed Morris and Asterion as they circled around them.

“Should we chase after the straggler?” Morris asked.

With a soft red glow in his eyes, Asterion shook his head. “No point, he’s on a fool’s errand anyway. Might as well play with these two before we take them out.”

“Sounds like a good time to me.” A brutal glee danced across Morris's face while he cracked his knuckles.

Shaun loosened her chains and fixed them into a circle around herself and Magnus. Poised to strike at a moment's notice, she gave them her typical courtesy. “One step closer, and playtime’ll be over before you know it. Just hear us out, and we can explain everything!”

“Ha! You must be the one Albiore had to teach,” said Morris. “It’s a miracle he kept a pacifist like you under his wing. A real knight doesn’t hesitate to fight for a second!”   
  
“As if you knew what that meant!” Magnus spat back. “She’s more of a knight than you’ll ever be!”   
  
Despite the imminent danger, Shaun couldn’t fight back a flattered smile. 

“Big words coming from another traitor!” Asterion said with another red flash of his eyes. 

Asking nicely never worked, Shaun lamented, firing up her Cosmo for battle. “I’m giving you one last chance. Please don’t do this! You’re making a mistake!” 

Magnus could hear the growing hum and crackle of the electrically charged chains. They took down Jab in no time, but he wondered if they’d be enough against silver knights. 

“Magnus, think you can hit them with Diamond Dust if this fails?” she asked, tightening the grip on her chains. 

“Never hurts to try, but I might have to move.” Magnus recalled Shaun’s warning about her chains shocking strangers. 

“They won’t hurt you now, I promise. Power of  _ friend _ ship, right?”   
  
Now Magnus was the one who couldn’t resist a smile. “Then I can back you up no problem.”

Asterion made a retching sound as his eyes glowed again. “I don’t have time for all this mush to play out. Now, Morris!” he ordered, and the two charged towards them. 

“ _ Nebula Chain!” _ Shaun shouted, whipping them into action.

“Dodge!” Asterion called out, with the Whale knight obeying. They managed to just avoid the lash of the chain, catching Shaun off-guard. 

“What?! That’s impossible!” She desperately tried to swing at them again to no avail.

With the gap quickly closing between them and the silvers, Magnus stepped in. “Don’t worry, I’ve got this. _ Diamond Dust! _ ”

Sending blasts of ice their way, again Asterion called to Morris in time to dodge them. 

Around the circle of chains they tried to take them down, but time after time Asterion evaded with Morris following close behind. Even with Shaun’s chains rendered harmless towards him, Magnus couldn’t land a hit. Inevitably, he was dealt a light shock here and there in Shaun’s effort to target the silver knights. Kicks and blows were sent their way, with neither bronze being able to do much to stop or block them. 

Shaun winced as her teammate received another accidental shock. “Magnus, I’m so sorry!”

“It’s fine,” he said as he strained to get up, “but this isn’t working!”

“Time to finish this!” Morris declared, the two coordinating their next attack. They leapt high into the air, swinging their legs down for a kick.

“Another tactic it is,” Shaun thought aloud. “Magnus! Get behind me again and stay close!”

Once he had complied she rose her arm into the air. The chains began to rattle, awaiting their next command. 

“ _ Rolling defense! _ ”

The chains pulled in closer and spun wildly around them, forming a protective dome. Once Asterion and Morris made contact with their kicks, the chains grinded against their armors. Sparks flew as the spinning force flung them back in a tailspin to the ground.

“Try it again you two, I dare you!” goaded Shaun. “My rolling defense can slash you to ribbons and bounce off near-light speed attacks. Just end this pointless fight-now!”

Morris was irked at his partner's incompetence, clutching his leg in pain. “How did you not see that one coming?!” 

“It was too last minute for me to tell,” Asterion reasoned in his flustered state. “And I didn’t know the Andromeda armor had that in its arsenal!”

Magnus himself was surprised by the upset. “I had no idea either. Impressive.”   
  
She cocked her head in a confident smile. “None of us would be very useful as one-trick ponies, right?”

“I suppose not.” His levity faded when he felt her cosmo waning. “You alright?”   
  
She nodded despite the sweat down her brow.“This one takes a lot out of me,” she explained, her arm shaking as she held her position. “And we’ve had a lot taken out of us already.”

“You’ve done enough, let me take over and you get out of here.” He couldn't hide the worry in his voice.   
  
“I’m fine," she insisted, despite the long day finally catching up to her. “We’re in this together, and you’re not gonna shake me off that easily."

“Stubborn too, huh? Surprise, surprise.”

“Look who’s talking.”

Asterion growled as he stood back up. “Pat yourself on the back now, because that kind of luck won’t strike twice!”

“I’ll use the other trick up my sleeve too then,” Magnus decided. “On three, stop the shield and I’ll take them on.

She grit her teeth from the strain. “No complaints here, just make it quick if you can.” 

“One.” Magnus concentrated his cosmo into his hands.

Morris and Asterion fired up theirs in turn, strong enough to leave the two uneasy as they sensed the daunting gap.   
  
“Two.” Clasping his hands together into fists, Magnus focused on his breathing. Frost formed on his fingers and knuckles , and a chilling wind was beginning to blow inside the dome.

The silver knights rushed towards the pair with a battle cry. 

“Three!”

With a grunt Shaun halted the chains, and Magnus raised his arms for another attack. Before the opposing sides collided, a stream of green energy flew up from the cliffside. Roaring with its own power and taking the shape of a dragon, it gunned for the silver knights, knocking them back once again before disappearing.

Asterion punched the ground in rage. “How did that actually work for him?!”

Shaun, kneeling and clutching her tired arm, looked along the cliff’s edge with relief. “Not a moment too soon!” she cheered as the Dragon Knight reunited with them. With Long up close however, that glee shifted to confusion.

"What happened to your chest plate?”

Hearing her, Magnus turned to lay eyes on a distracting sight. There was the fellow bronze knight, collected and controlled as always, shirtless.    
  
“I second the question,” he added, trying his hardest to focus on Long’s face.

He sighed, having little time to explain himself. "I focus better without it. Now let’s take out the trash, shall we?” Firing up his cosmo, the mark of the dragon was vivid as ever on his back. 

For Magnus, it had the opposite effect. Shaking his head to snap out of it he turned his attention back to Shaun. “You’ve done more than enough today, let us take it from here.”

“I still have a little left in me!” She shakily stood up in defiance, readying her chains once again. 

Asterion snarled. “Enough! I’ve had it up to here with this! Now playtime’s over!”   
  
With Long and Shaun at his side, Magnus gave a confident smirk. “Sounds good to us, and it ends with your death!”    
_  
_ _ “Diamond Dust!” _ _  
_ _ “Lushan shenglong ba!” _ _  
_ _ “Nebula chain!” _   
  


In unison the three launched their attack, a wave of powerful energy thundering at breakneck speed towards the silver knights. But once again, their efforts proved fruitless. Away the two bounded from the onslaught with grace, landing on their feet once more. They looked on at the trio, the conceit of victory in their eyes.   
  
Shaun was exasperated with these narrow escapes. “What is with these guys?! They keep dodging us perfectly! It’s like they’re-”

“Reading our minds?” Long finished. 

Daunting as it sounded, Magnus had a similar suspicion. “It wouldn’t be out of the question,” he explained. “Knights can have all sorts of special skills at their disposal.” 

Shaun froze in place at the terrifying thought. “If that’s the case, then Asterion has to be the one doing it. Probably when his eyes are glowing!”

“Then he’s the first to go!” Magnus prepared another Diamond Dust attack. As he did however, the Hound knight faded into a blur. Before he knew it, he found himself surrounded by an army of Asterions from all directions. 

He cursed under his breath. Frantically, he started to scan the copies for any sign of the real one.

“Sad that one of Camus’ finest pupils can’t see through my illusion,” they mocked, the words resounding like an eerie choir.

The Cygnus knight grit his teeth and concentrated, looking for any sign that might give away the real one.  
  
Asterion now preoccupied, Morris charged towards the Andromeda knight. “Time to show you what happens to pacifists in this war!” he shouted, swinging his arms skyward after landing a blast on her. “ _Whale Spout Bomber!_ ”

As he called his attack, the waves of the ocean rose to meet Shaun as she fell off the cliff. A series of glowing rings emerged, constricting her body. Unable to escape no matter what she tried, she looked on with dread as the mysterious rings sent her flying back towards Morris, connecting her head with his fist. 

Magnus’ concentration broke at her cry of pain. Before he could think it through, he turned heel and ran towards the cliff. Long grabbed him before he could dive off after her.    
  
“That’s the same attack that sent me flying over here,” he explained, “it’s not worth-look out!”   
  
Cloaked in darkness, they both became caged in Asterion’s illusion. ”Your silly feelings are your downfall, kid. Go meet her in death!  _ Million Phantom Attack! _ ”   
  
In unison, the Asterions sent blasts of energy towards them. Instantly, Magnus was knocked off the cliff. Despite Long’s ability to block a few blows, he too was sent reeling off. 

Landing face-first into the sand, Magnus struggled to raise his head. A couple of feet away, he spotted Shaun lying on her back.

His exhaustion caught up to him as he crawled to reach her. “Shaun, get up. C’mon, that can’t be enough to take you down.” 

She stirred at the sound of his voice, half opening her eyes. “As if,” she mumbled. “Stubborn, remember?”

Giving a tired sigh of relief, he helped her up. Running back to Long, they looked around to start their counterattack. Yet, they found themselves alone on the shore.

Long relaxed his stance. “No sign of them. Strange. You’d think they’d follow up.”

“Gods! Took them long enough, the brats!”   
  
The three paused when they heard Morris complaining.   
  
“Maybe this time they’ll stay down and dead,” they heard Asterion grumble.

They spotted the silver knights in the distance busy at work on something. Spying from a safe distance behind the cliffside, what they saw only raised more questions.

Morris and Asterion were lifting three bodies onto their shoulders. The bronzes recognized the massive corpses instantly-the black knights they had defeated in the cave. 

“Do they think that’s us?” Magnus whispered to the three.

“I guess so. But how?” asked Long.

Out of the corner of her eye, Shaun saw a faint shimmer surrounding them. Someone, somewhere, was casting an illusion. She shushed them both, waiting for Morris and Asterion to leave.    
  
“I say we get drinks after this,” said Morris, setting off in the opposite direction of the bronzes. “Think we can finally get Marin to join us?”

“Who the hell knows?” asked Asterion as he slung the third over his shoulder. “You know she keeps to herself most of the time.”   
  
“Yeah, she’s either with herself or Shaina. You think they got a thing going?”

“Morris, you swear everyone’s got a thing going with someone. Let’s just meet back up at the contact point.” 

With that, the two leapt away.

Finally able to let their guard down, the three collapsed back onto the sand. Deactivating her cloth tag, Shaun returned to her regular clothing and leaned up against the cliffside. She rubbed her eyes in exhaustion. “I think that’s enough surprises for one day.” 

“You alright there?” Long asked Magnus as he slipped his shirt back on. “My face is up here, you know.”   
  
“What? I knew that,” he said quickly, snapping back to Long’s eyes. Opting to shift gears, he turned to Shaun and sat beside her. “Guess the power of friendship only works if all four of us are together, huh?”

She laughed wearily. “I think we did a good enough job on our own.”   
  
“We ought to catch our breath for a bit,” suggested Long, “before heading out to look for Seiya.”   
  
She panicked, shooting back up. “Seiya! Oh no, we gotta still find him!” 

Magnus caught her by the pant leg. Tired as they both were, it was enough to stop her and sit her back down. “He’ll be fine. I think good luck follows that guy. Lord knows he needs it.”

“He’s got the Pegasus armor after all,” Long added, shifting into a meditation pose. “I’ve heard crazy stories about whoever wears it.”

“You two might be right.” Her eye turned to Magnus with a hint of mischief. “Hey, did I catch you being sentimental just now?”

Too tired to argue, Magnus raised his hands in surrender. “You got me. Guess I’ve got a weak spot, too.”

Long eyed them both as they slid down to the ground to rest. Given their little banter and what Asterion had said, the cogs started to turn in his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So originally, this was going to be something more in the lines of just the scenes in-between the episodes between Mangus and Shaun. However, after seeing the second season things got a little more complicated since basically any character that wasn't Seiya or Sienna got all of 30 seconds of total screentime. 
> 
> So essentially, this turned into a rewrite of the second season. I'm going to wind up adding lots of content that I would have added if I were steering this ship, both of the series and of Shagnus. There will be more emphasis and scenes dedicated to the two of them, but it might spin off into mini arcs and scenes with the other characters. This is not only to give Magnus and Shaun more time to develop as a couple, but also to hopefully put some meat on the bones of the characters we've been given now.
> 
> Y'all by back hurts from carrying this team. 
> 
> Now, lord willing I'll be able to keep this up, since soon I'll be beginning grad school. Given that so many things are up in the air now though (this was posted on 5/17/2020, during the coronavirus pandemic-just putting this here for posterity's sake), I wanted to at least push something out in the hopes that it'll bring a little joy to everyone who reads it. 
> 
> If you're familiar with the one-shot in the previous chapter, it's going to appear again in a future chapter with a few changes, since I've integrated it into this larger fic. So don't be surprised if you read it over again. Not much changed, but y'know, eh. Now you'll get to find out what happened afterwards! :D
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy, it'll motivate me to keep going!!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The following chapters will take place as an extension of what happened once everyone reunited at the start of Season 2, episode 3. We're gonna head now into a HUGE deviation from what happened, essentially expanding what occurred. I'll let you know when a chapter connects back to S2E3 in the forest.

She refused to believe it. Seiya couldn’t be the one with all the luck. Her brother had to be alive, too. As self-sacrificing as he was, he was equally tenacious. On envy and spite alone, she was willing to keep her hopes up.   
  
With that matter settled and pushed down to deal with later, she turned her focus back on the matter at hand. They had accomplished their main goal of getting back the Sagittarius armor, conveniently tucked away in Seiya’s pocket.   
  
Huddled around the coveted tag, they tried to piece together how he had gotten hold of it unwittingly. “Master Mu knows this gold armor can protect Athena,” thought Seiya aloud. “That must be why he let me keep it!”   
  
“I’m sure that’s why,” Shaun added, unsurprised. Seiya was the one that led the charge after all, and it would make sense for this Mu guy to entrust him with it.    
  
While threading the tag through the neck cord, Seiya looked to the others. “I guess we’re done here then. Let’s get this back to Sienna.”   
  
Running on little sleep like the rest, Shaun was remiss to bring up a key issue. “There’s only one problem. Sienna never mentioned where we could find her.”

Magnus shrugged. “Maybe the armor can help us out. Send some kind of beacon, maybe?”    
  
Everyone looked at him in surprise. Not so much for the suggestion itself, but for the fact that he spoke up at all. 

With all the eyes on him, he felt defensive. “What?”

“Well, it’s not the worst idea I’ve ever heard.” Long relented.   
  
“I mean, sure,” Seiya said, holding the threaded tag in his hand, “but how? I’m not the owner of the cloth. And it’s not like this thing has an on switch.”

With what little brainpower she had left, Shaun formed a theory. “But it was handed to you, right? Maybe in a way it was passed to you. Or at least put on loan. Just try activating it.”   
  
“I guess it’s worth a shot,” Seiya reasoned. “Here goes nothing.”    
  
He gave the tag a light tap with his finger. Once he did, it began to glow. All four jumped in surprise as a beam of light shot up into the sky. 

“Wow. I didn’t think it’d actually have one,” said Magnus. 

Waiting on bated breath to see what would happen, the light eventually faded after a minute or two. 

“Well, so much for that,” Seiya sighed. “What now?” 

Shaun’s ears picked up a rumbling sound from far away. Bracing herself for the worst, she shielded her eyes as a gust of wind surrounded them. 

The sunlight was blocked out by something large, and with the shade provided Magnus looked up to see a VTOL landing on the cliffside above. Once the engine had died down, they looked up to see Sienna waving at them.   
  


\--   
“We were patrolling the area, hoping you had found your way here,” Sienna explained as they flew away. 

“Is that when you saw the beam of light from the armor?” asked Seiya. 

She nodded. “Plus, I felt...a connection to it. Hard to explain, but somehow I knew we had to patrol this part of the beach specifically. Like I could sense it was close.”

Shaun overheard the conversation, but her lead-heavy limbs were too tired to get up and join in. The only thing she remembered was closing her eyes to rest them, and being nudged awake by Magnus. 

“We’re here,” he told her, helping her up. 

Slinging her luggage over her shoulder, she yawned. “Where?” 

“Hell if I know, but the sand’s definitely gone.”

He couldn’t have worded it better. Shaun stepped outside to hear the rustling of lush green trees. Once again, their surroundings looked deserted. 

Stepping outside and into an awaiting van, The VTOL was piloted away while Mylock drove them off the road, deep into the woods. The soothing sight of the redwoods lulled Shaun once more into sleep. 

“Shaun? If you can hear me, wake up. You can crash soon, I promise,” she heard Sienna say, pulling her back awake. 

“Mm?” She rubbed her eyes and stepped out of the van along with the others. They had pulled into a driveway, and in front of them was a sizable cabin tucked away under the shelter of towering trees. 

“Come in,” Sienna entreated, “We can talk more once we all get some well-earned sleep.”   
  
“You don’t have to tell me twice.” Shaun took the lead up the stairs and gave a weary nod of thanks to Mylock for holding the door open.

“Huh?” Seiya stood in front of the doorway, beyond baffled. “Your grandfathers had  _ another _ one of these secret hideaways?”

“I’d believe it,” Magnus said as he and Long headed into their assigned room. 

Seiya was surprised at how casually the others were taking this. “None of you are the least bit...surprised?”

Shaun turned to Seiya with a bone-worn look on her face. “Nope. Too tired. Emotional trauma.” She then turned to Mylock. “Girls room please? I’d like a bed now.”   
  
In less than an hour Shaun had showered and flopped onto the crisp, pressed sheets of the room she shared with Sienna. Spinning into sleep, she felt herself sink into the mattress.   
  
Some final threads of thought floated by before the whirling world could pause. She lamented over Nero. She worried about being ambushed by Guraad. She hoped everyone would get well-earned rest too. 

She wondered if Magnus would be up when she awoke.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is the redo of the one-shot. Feel free to skip if you've already read it!

There were too many damn options. Fighting droves of the tech-armed black knights was a cakewalk compared to this.

To take a breather from everything that had happened, Sienna proposed a small party at the safehouse tucked away in the woods. Even the other bronze knights they had met in the tournament were invited. The safehouse was off the grid, and Guraad didn’t know it existed. Thus, it was a safe place to hide for now. Besides, after the beating his army took they would need time to regroup. 

Prior to the get-together, Sienna had arranged a trip for them to the nearest city. It was an opportunity to stock up on supplies and get ready for a hopefully fun evening. 

Shaun didn’t have much in the way of a wardrobe to choose from for any kind of party, given that knights needed to pack light. But, toiletries were always a must.A few tampon packs were tucked under her arm, and the next essential she needed was deodorant. This led to the current choice paralysis on which scent to get.

Shaun stood helpless in the aisle, looking at the countless options. Could b.o. even penetrate the under-suit of her armor? Then again, she wasn’t going to be wearing her armor tonight.

“Why do you even care?” she asked herself, “Just get the last one you bought and go.”

But she didn’t want to do that. She didn’t want to smell the same. Why didn’t she want to smell the same? Who was even going to stand close enough to her to smell it?

Rather, the small voice in her head asked,  _ who _ did she want close enough?

Magnus was on the other side of the aisle. He gave her a quick glance, and the two quickly turned their heads back to what they were doing.

“The lavender. No, the gardenia. Oh my god Shaun, when has that ever mattered?”

“Hey.”

Shaun whipped around at the sound of his voice behind her. “Hey! Don’t mind me, I'm just taking a while to remember which one I liked,” she said, gesturing towards a plethora of options.

Magnus cracked a soft smile and held up a stick of his own, a men’s brand. “I have no idea how anyone picks anything around here with all these options. The labels are so shiny, too. Wouldn’t it confuse little kids?”   
  
“You used to only having fifty where you’re from as opposed to 200? What a sad life,” she joked.

“I’m lucky if there’s more than three,” he joked back.

Shaun giggled while Magnus chuckled through his nose. Here they were, Shaun thought, the saviors of humanity, getting deodorant in a drugstore. The title of a member of the Right Ones was something she was still getting used to. After the thorough beating she got from the silver knights, she certainly didn’t feel like any prophesized heroine. But she figured it was a role she’d have to grow into.

Magnus would probably get to that point way sooner. He was ready on the offense no matter who was in front of him. Even if she believed emotions were needed, she had to admit they ultimately backfired against her brother.   
  
But the gnarled mess of thoughts from her reunion with Nero were things she pushed down once more. They’d be dealt with later. Tonight there was a celebration and she would revel in it. Take a breather. Besides, getting to know her new friends in something other than a fight for their lives sounded fun.

Bearing that in mind, she turned back to the rows of sticks. “Eeny meeny miney mo,” She plucked her chosen scent and smiled back at Magnus. “Guess it was easier than I thought.”

His eyes fell on the label. “Summer rose?” Something in his normally composed exterior softened. “She liked roses.”

Shaun was intrigued. “She?”

A small flinch passed his countenance. “Someone I knew,” he quickly answered, fidgeting with his deodorant stick. 

A beat passed, and Shaun felt the need to swap subjects. “So, you looking forward to tonight?”

He nodded. “It’ll be nice to get a break after all that’s happened.”

“I’m sort of surprised you’re looking forward to it,” she teased, “not too long ago you were dead set on killing us.”

He lowered his voice, knowing the knights were floating around the other aisles. “Depending on how obnoxious Seiya and Jab get tonight, I might still have to.”

They shared a snicker, but Shaun’s conscience kicked in. “They’re not so bad I think. Sometimes you just gotta be that hard-headed to get things done, you know? I guess we saw that firsthand already.”

He smirked, a hand on his hip. “You really give people the benefit of the doubt, don’t you?”

She shrugged. “I’d just want the same done for me, is all.”

He shifted his glance away from her. “Me too, I guess.” A soft nervous laugh escaped him.    
  
Shaun found it amusing. He was kind of cute when caught off-guard.

Wait. Did she just think he was cute?

Shaun bounced on her heels to let her jitters out. “Already granted,” she assured him, snapping back to the conversation at hand.

Magnus shook his head and smiled again. “Good to know. I’ll see you later I guess.” 

She waved as he turned away, finally letting go of tension in her shoulders she suddenly became aware of. Giving them a light rub to ease their aching, she took a moment to collect herself. That had to be the strangest interaction she’d had with him yet.

She checked a nearby cosmetic mirror to see if there was red across her face, her cheeks feeling as hot as they did. She looked at the deodorant in her hand. Something about roses made him uncomfortable, and she didn’t want to see him like that. She wanted to see him with that nervous little smile again.

In that moment, she realized deodorant didn’t need to be her top concern.

Her go-to stick it was. Swapping them out, she figured so many truths of her life had been broken lately that it was time to bust another one. Clenched fists in anticipation, she strode stiffly to an aisle she hadn’t paid much mind to before: perfumes.

“Right then,” she mumbled to herself, “anything that’s not rosy smelling.” So tunneled were her sights on the curved bottles and boxes, she didn’t realize there was someone else in the aisle until she bumped into them.

“Oh! I’m so sor-”

“No no, I didn’t see you eith-”

That was a familiar voice. She looked up.

There again was Magnus, his hand on a small bottle of cologne.

Eyes locked and froze. Shaun was certain now her cheeks had to be red. After all, his were too.


	5. Chapter 5

Teeth brushed, hair combed (but not too much), clothes cleaned and pressed. Magnus checked everything in the mirror one more time before finally allowing himself to calm down. Hands drumming on the sink, he was grateful his Master taught him not only combat, but etiquette. It was certainly paying off now, or so he hoped. 

This would be the first social event he’d attend since his graduation in Sanctuary. If he were being honest, it was the first one he’d been invited to where everyone else was about his age. No stuffy adult knights around, praising him for his composed behavior at all times. It should have brought relief, but instead he felt the opposite. 

A loud rapping on the bathroom door forced him to snap out of his fretting. “One sec!”

“You’ve been in there for like fifteen minutes! You’re not the only one who needs to shower too, you know!” complained Seiya outside. 

Yeah, it was going to be hard to not kill him tonight. 

Taking the cologne he bought and quickly adding a spritz to his neck and chest, he pulled on his shirt again and opened the door. “You must be great to have as a roommate,” he said flatly. 

“Not really, that’s why I lived alone at the-” Seiya paused when he caught a whiff of something. “Are you wearing cologne?”

Magnus crossed his arms. “And what if I am?”

Seiya stared at his new friend, baffled. “Why? It’s just us and Sienna.”

“Well, maybe some of us want to dress up a bit for our goddess. You know, the whole reason we’re here in the first place?”

Seiya’s shoulders slumped in disbelief. “Seriously? We blasted tanks and helicopters for her sake. Quite frankly, I’m pretty sure we can look and smell however we wanted.”

Magnus rolled his eyes, and looked over at the meditating Long on his bed. “Long, you seem to be reasonable. Tell Seiya over here it makes sense to want to get a little cleaned up for a get-together, no?”

Long slowly opened his eyes. “Sure, but I think you went overboard. I can smell you from here.”

A beet red flooded Magnus’ face. In a flash he rushed back into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. 

“Oh, come on!” Seiya whined, “It’s not that bad, he probably gets super senses when he’s meditating like that! Just let me in!” 

Long closed his eyes once more and smiled. His suspicions were proving right. 

Realizing his begging would get him nowhere, Seiya dragged his feet to Sienna and Shaun’s side of the safehouse. 

-

Resting in their room before the party, Shaun looked up from scrolling her phone in bed. “Sienna?” 

“Yes Shaun?” Sienna asked, finishing up her preparations at the vanity. 

She picked at one of the buttons of her overalls. “Mind if I use that mirror after you?”

Sienna smiled and rose from her chair. “Go ahead and use it now.”

“Really?”

“Of course.”

Shaun didn’t miss a beat and sat herself down at the vanity. The ornate gold accents on the white wood fascinated her. They reminded her of the dollhouses she used to see in the store windows. The bathroom mirror was perfectly functional, but curiosity led her to trying the ornate option.

“It’s nice to do this somewhere other than an airport restroom,” she said, plopping a threadbare cosmetics bag onto the table. Wiping the dust and sand from it into a nearby bin, she pulled out her well-worn set: a lipstick with a cracked clear cap, blush and eyeshadow that were almost used up, and a mascara tube that had yet to be opened from its weathered packaging. 

“I’m impressed your eyelashes are so long and neat without mascara,” Sienna complimented. 

“Why thank you!” She jokingly batted them a few times. “I figured it'd be handy in case I had something fancy to go to.”

The two giggled, then heard a knock on the door. 

Shaun rose from the chair. “I’ll get it.”

Heading to the door while Sienna followed close behind, she opened it to find an exasperated Seiya.

“Tell me you guys aren’t using the shower right now,” he pleaded.

Shaun raised an eyebrow. “No, is there something wrong with yours?”

“Yeah, Magnus is taking forever in there! Can I please take a quick shower in yours?!”

She looked to Sienna for approval, who and bade him enter. 

“Oh thank God,” he said with relief. “I’ve been waiting all day to take one!”. He strode past them straight to the restroom.  
“You haven’t showered at all yet?” asked Shaun. Of course, having trained with mostly boys, she should have known better. 

“Every other guy got to it first! I was trying to let them all get their turn in!”

Sienna chuckled. “Well that’s very polite of you, Seiya.” 

“It is very polite of me! I’m glad you agree!” His venting over and done with, he turned on his heels and closed the restroom door behind him. 

The two girls looked to each other and did their best to hold in their laughter. 

Heading back to the vanity, Sienna got a closer look at Shaun’s worn makeup. She tsked as she watched her apply it with the frayed remnants of a powder brush. “That’s something I’m going to have to fix the next time we’re resting somewhere,” she said. 

“Fix what?” Shaun asked, grinding her brush into the blush to get what was left around the edges of the container.

“This,” she gestured towards the well-used products. “I’ll cover.”

Shaun waved away the offer with embarrassment. “No, don’t be silly, I hardly have the chance to wear it anywa-”

“I won’t take no for an answer.” Guilt weighed down the corners of her smile. It’s the least I can do for everything you’ve done for me.”

“Wow. Well, thank you then,” Shaun grinned, appreciative of the offer. With the simple makeup done, she took out a well-worn hairbrush with a broken handle. Grasping at the roots of her hair to reduce the pain, she yanked at the numerous knots with the brush. 

Sienna winced at the sound of hairs being ripped from Shaun’s scalp and flew to her side. “How about I take care of this for you?” She opened one of the drawers to pull out a clean brush-one that still had a handle and most of its bristles.

Surprised at first, Shaun laughed nervously as she put down the brush. “Feels like this should be the other way around.”

Sienna shook her head. “Like I said, it’s the least I can do. Besides, thick hair like this deserves better treatment,” she explained, gently beginning to tackle the knots. 

Shaun closed her eyes and began to relax. Letting someone else take care of her hair for once was refreshing. It hadn’t happened in a long time, not since she was a little girl.

“Am I hurting you Shaun?”

“No, why?” she asked, opening her eyes to notice tears forming in the corners of them. “Oh, those?” She wiped them away. “I guess some memories were coming back to me. Nero used to help comb my hair when I had too much sand in it. I’m fine, really.”

Sienna clutched the brush. They hadn’t seen her brother since their time in the desert. No doubt he had gone back to Guraad to work on whatever he was planning. Another family torn apart in her name aside from Seiya

But this wasn’t about her. She tried her best to assuage her knight while handling a particularly stubborn knot. “You’ll see him again soon. I’m sure you reached out to his better nature the last time you saw him.”

The usual smile Shaun carried with her began to fade. “I hope so. I really can’t believe he’s dead, no matter what Seiya was told. But even if I saw him again, I’m not really sure how to even broach the topic of what happened in that cave. To be honest, I’m not really sure if I can forgive him.” 

With a pause, her usual composure returned. “But, I definitely want to see him again. Get him to understand that he’s not alone. That he should be working with us,” she said while she applied her lipstick.

Sienna nodded in understanding. Silence passed between them for some time until they heard something coming from the bathroom. 

“Is he singing in there?” Shaun asked aloud. 

Sure enough, a closer listen confirmed the sounds of off-key notes. Now the two had to hold their stomachs as they laughed silently. 

A few more giggles and sputters escaped them as Sienna finished combing her hair, followed by letting her keep the brush. Shaun, silently relieved, pulled out the box that held the perfume from her bag.

“Well well,” Sienna said as she adjusted her hairpiece behind her, “I guess you’d consider this something fancier, too?”

Shaun held the small pink bottle in her hand, turning it over to read the scent she picked out: it read White Princess in stamped lettering on the box. The fragrance boasted of having the soft hint of peony and jasmine. She wasn’t a hundred percent sure she knew what a peony was, but in all likelihood it wasn’t some kind of rose.

“This looks like a lovely smell,” Sienna noted, and with the first few spritzes they both agreed it was. Relieved that she wasn’t going to stink, Sienna showed her the best way to apply it: two sprays on the neck, a little on the wrist. 

“You know what, this could use just one more thing,” Sienna added, opening a small box on the vanity. After a little bit of searching, she pulled out a pair of earrings, each bearing a drop-shaped pearl of soft pink. 

“You can’t be serious Sienna,” gasped Shaun, taking them in her hand. 

“They’ll look better on you anyway,” she insisted. “You’ve got the right hair color for it.”

With gratitude she put them on, grinning as the pearls softly swayed in place. The finishing touch was putting on her armor tag, which hung from a thin chain to just the top of her overalls. 

Satisfied with her final look, Seiya emerged from the bathroom far more clean and relieved than he was when he went in. “Thanks ladies! See you in a bit!” 

“Sounds like you had a great time in there,” Shaun called after him, hoping the tease would go by undetected. It apparently did, Seiya already having strutted out of sight down the hall. It left the girls the chance to laugh more freely.

Leaving Sienna to finish her own preparations, Shaun caught one more look at herself in the mirror, pleased with her work. The wild impulse that took her captive earlier in the store was back again in full force. 

She hoped for a great time with everyone, but more than that she hoped these little touches would draw out that nervous laugh again.


	6. Chapter 6

Sienna took a step back to review the living room setup. Four sofas surrounded a large coffee table in the wood-paneled room. For all the hope that Sienna had of making a social space, the cold, sterile walls and furnishings looked anything but inviting. 

Nevertheless, she did her best to make it as welcoming as possible. She had scrounged around the closets and found a speaker for playing music from her phone, and had pulled any and all plates and glasses from the kitchen. Mylock had picked up the other bronzes along with with warm, fresh catered food, and the final touch were some newly bought throws draped over the sofas. 

Long was the first to emerge from his shared room, surprised to see the setup. “Sienna, you really didn’t need to do all of this,” he said, heading over to her to give a respectful bow. “My master couldn’t allow me to let you do all this by-”   
  
“And yet I did it,” She cut him off. “Long, please. I ask that you give the formalities a rest. It’s not necessary to talk to me like that all the time. We’re the same age, aren’t we?”

“Technically, yes,” he smiled, feeling an obligatory rigidity in his manner fading away. “As you wish-”   
  
She gave him a reminding look, which caused him to laugh.

“Yeah, alright. I’ll try.”

“Try what?” asked Seiya behind them, flopping on the sofa. “Hey, burritos!” 

Snatching one of the silvery-wrapped bundles of delight from the kitchen counter, Seiya sank his teeth into it. Closing his eyes as he relished in the meal, with a mouth half full he turned to Sienna. “You got this from Tio Mario’s, didn’t you?”

The smugness only afforded to a local came to her face.“Of course I did, where else would I get them from?”

Taking one of them for himself, Long took a bite. Having left California years ago to train, he never expected himself to be homesick for them. 

“Tio’s is alright I suppose,” he said after completely finishing his first bite, taking up Sienna’s offer to relax a little more. “If you ask me, Burro Blanco’s is the best around here.”

“What? You gotta be joking!” Seiya said in shock. “Their carnitas taste like soggy cardboard!”

Sienna decided to ring in as well. “Really Long, I’m surprised. I figured you’d have better taste!”   
  
Long took another bite before continuing his rebuttal. “It’s not cardboard, it’s restraint on drowning it all in fat. Plus, you’re not paying an arm and a leg for it.”

“But drowning in fat is the whole point of one of these things!” argued Seiya. Realizing that persuasion was pointless, he shook his head. “I’m honestly disappointed in you Long, this hurts. I dunno if we’re ever gonna come back from such an insult on the fine institution that is Tio’s,” he lamented with a wave of his meal, sending a bean or two flinging off and onto the floor. “At the very least, I hope we can all agree on who has the best conchas.”

Long scoffed. “As if that was up for debate. On three?”   
  
Seiya agreed. “One, two, three.”   
  
“Como la flor,” the guys said in unison.

Sienna, starting to name another bakery, held her tongue. 

The knights looked to her with concern. 

“Marisol’s?” she said with an uneasy smile. 

Long narrowed his eyes in suspicion. “Now Sienna, you’re  _ sure _ you’re not an ancient greek antichrist?” 

With the three of them laughing it up, Jab emerged alongside Geki from the kitchen. Geki parked himself on the sofa adjacent to Seiya and Long.

“Jeez, they don’t make them like this back in Canada!” Geki said, his own burrito in hand. “Thanks, Sienna!”   
  
“Of course!” She was beaming to see some happy faces for once. “There’s also chips, guac and sweets for later back there. Have however much you like, you deserve it!”

Jab made his way, naturally, to a spot close to where Sienna sat. “Is this what you guys argue about on the west coast? Burritos?”

Seiya “Bah, don’t you New Yorkers go on and on about where the best pizza is?”

“Fair enough. But milady, you didn’t need to do all of this for us. After all, part of our training was fasting for weeks at a time to survive the harshest of conditions.”

His stomach let out an audible gurgle once he finished bragging.

Sienna smiled politely while Jab tried to hide his embarrassment. “Well Jab,” she said, “I assure you it’s not necessary to do any of that, at least not right now.”

“Right,” he blushed, fetching for himself while Seiya snickered. 

Long shook his head and took another bite. It may have settled heavier than he was used to in his stomach, but after everything they had gone through, it was a welcome meal.

Magnus appeared next from his room, and Seiya called him over to sit with them. He arrived with one of the wrapped burritos in hand as Seiya slid over to fit him in.

“You got that cologne thing all figured out?” Seiya asked with a mouth half-full again. 

Wishing on every star of Cygnus that Seiya would keep his voice down, he nodded. “Uh, yeah, think so.” He looked over uneasily at Long, someone whose opinion on these matters would probably bear more credence. He relaxed when Long gave him an approving thumbs up.

“Jeez, maybe I’m the one cockblocking here,” Seiya joked as he saw the exchange. “Why don’t you two get a room?”

Magnus raised a brow in proposition. 

Long waved away the offer. “Flattered, but I’ve got someone back in Lushan.”   
  
“Too bad,” Magnus smirked as he unwrapped the meal. “So what the heck is this thing?”

“Oh yeah, you’re not from the states,” Seiya realized, beginning to explain to him what the meal wrapped in flour was before him.    
  
“So is this some sort of extra large sized burrito?” Magnus asked as he felt the weight of the contents inside it.

Seiya blinked. “Dude, these things don’t come in sizes. It’s not from McDonalds!” He laughed as he took another messy bite.

Americans. Massive portions like this were probably the norm for them. He shrugged and started to dig in. It wasn’t bad, that was for sure. 

Shaun finally emerged from her room as everyone was settling into their little clusters. Anxiously she looked for Magnus, relieved and yet annoyed that his back was to her.

Should she go up to him? He looked busy. That was fine if he was busy, she could always catch him later, she figured. But she wanted to talk to him  _ now _ . 

Raising her hand to tap him on the shoulder, he was pulled away by Sienna waving to her. Relieved yet disappointed, she headed her way. 

“I could use someone here to keep some space between me and Jab if you don’t mind,” Sienna asked, offering the spot beside her. 

“As you command my goddess,” Shaun obliged with a silly flourish, the two of them sitting beside each other once she got her food.

“Hey, these burritos look great!” she said as she unwrapped the foil and took a bite beside Sienna. “These are just like the ones at the Chipotles at home!” 

At the very mention of the chain, the three Californians whipped their heads towards her. 

“Shaun, with all due respect,” Sienna scoffed. “These are far superior to Chipotle. I think we can all agree on that, right guys?”

Shaun blinked with a cheekful of food, watching the guys passionately agree. For a moment she forgot what side of the country she was on. Of course they were fervent about their mexican food. 

Magnus almost spit out his drink at the sound of her laughter. Although delightful, it was loud. He looked over to see what the fuss was about, making eye contact with her.

Shaun flushed, covering her mouth when she saw him staring at her. She cleared her throat before carrying on to another topic with Sienna.

As the night went on, Shaun was admittedly wrapped in conversation with Sienna. It was a nice respite, even if the chatter was about minor topics. Any girl time was priceless when you were a knight.

Meanwhile, Magnus had a morbid curiosity with whatever Seiya and Jab bickered about. At the moment, it was Jab’s obvious infatuation with Sienna.

“What? “She’s just very poised and refined! They’re nice qualities to look for!” The cup in Jab’s hand waved wildly as he spoke, the sloshing soda threatening to spill onto the floor.   
  
“That’s it?” sighed Seiya. “That’s the entire basis of your crush? Have you had a conversation of more than ten words with her? For all you know she’s not your type.”

“I’ll have you know she’s not!” Jabu stated matter-of-factly. “Not usually, anyway.”

“So now you have a type?” probed Long. 

Jab looked side to side before beckoning the guys in closer. “Alright, if you’re dying to know-”

“We’re really not,” Magnus muttered under his breath.

“It’s redheads. Especially if they got freckles. I guess I like ‘em a little grumpy, too.”

Seiya narrowed his eyes. “That’s an oddly specific type.”

Jab blushed before taking a sip of his drink. “May or may not have been a specific person.”

Magnus needed a break. It looked like Ban and Nachi were engrossed in another conversation across the room, but then again he wasn’t sure how to approach two people he’d barely exchanged glances with. Maybe a food break would help.

If the meal was good enough his stomach turned into a bottomless pit. It’d been a while since he’d indugled in anything as good as that burrito, and so he was inclined to forage for seconds. The added bonus was that it was quiet in the kitchen. 

Shaun herself was ready to top off her meal, and headed into the kitchen for something sweet. Realizing Magnus was there too, her cheeks pulled themselves up into a grin.

“Good to see you haven’t been driven to murder yet,” she teased, heading over to the box of pastries.

He smirked. “Well it’s just so clean in here, I’d hate to ruin the walls.”

She snickered as she pulled a concha from the box. Looking over the large, sugary-topped bread roll with curiosity, she took a bite. “Seriously though, how is it?” she asked as she chewed from the corner of her mouth.

Up close, Magnus could now see the earrings Sienna had gifted her. “Where’d you get those?”

The teardrops swayed gently as she tilted her head. “Oh! Sienna gave them to me,” she explained, touching one of them. “I guess she just keeps them lying around.”

“With all these fancy modes of transport and hidden houses, I guess I’m not surprised.”

“Who knows? Maybe We’ll accidentally bump into the diamond stash.”

They chuckled, silence passing once more before Shaun took another bite. “You didn’t answer me, by the way.”   
  
Magnus shrugged. “They’re people, all together in a room, talking. How about you?”

She raised a brow at the generic answer. 

“What?”   
  


She took another bite of the bread. “I’m guessing they don’t throw a lot of socials in Sanctuary?”   
  


“They’re mostly follow ups to grand meetings. For the most part it’s just silvers and golds. They tend to keep things formal, especially when the Grand Master is in attendance.”

Shaun nodded. “Well, that explains a lot about you.”

“I’m not sure how to take that.”

“Shaun?” they heard Sienna call, “Everything alright over there? Do we need to restock on anything?”

“Nope, all good! Coming!” Turning back to him, she was reluctant to leave. But at the very least, she wanted to help him ease up. “Don’t overthink it, seriously. We’re all just people after all. Chat later?”

“Yeah, sure.”   
  
“Just try it,” she said, turning to leave.

  
“Fine, fine.” He rolled his eyes with a smile. “Were you this annoying to your brother?”

“Even worse,” she answered from the hall.   
  


Magnus looked down to his filled cup once she was gone. Hearing her laugh loudly again at something Geki had said he couldn’t help but giggle. He wondered what the smell of her perfume was like. 

She may have had a point. Everyone here was his age. It couldn’t have been that difficult to talk to them. Maybe easy if he didn’t overthink it. 

Striding back to the room, he scanned for a group he could move into. Shaun looked caught in conversation with Sienna, Geki and Ichi. He could have gone there, yet somehow that made him even more nervous. 

He certainly didn’t want to go back to Seiya and Jab’s conversation. He even saw Long give him a cautionary look across the way. 

To Ban and Nachi it was then. Heading over to the corner, he listened in on his approach.

“Nah, who cares if it’s got horsepower? If you can’t put hydraulics in what’s the point of the thing?” Nachi argued.

“The point is you can make tracks with it faster than they can start up. You know, the actual reason to drive it in a drag race?” countered Ban.

Magnus stepped in once he figured out the topic. “You guys talking about cars?”

They looked over to him, a tad surprised but willing to get another opinion in. “Yeah, you into them?”   
  


“Cars not so much,” he said, “though I worked a job at a repair shop while I was training.”

Nachi’s eyes lit up. “No kidding! So what do you like working on then?”

The tight grip on his drink loosened. “Trucks mostly, but I have more fun with…”

Shaun caught Magnus chatting away across the room. He was cute when he was more relaxed, too. 


	7. Chapter 7

The festivities went on for another hour or two, with Magnus and Shaun drifting across the room to everyone but each other. Any time they could reunite, they were pulled into another conversation. 

They both hoped the chance would come as the visiting bonzes were leaving. With not enough room in the cabin to accommodate everyone, Jab and the others offered to stay within the city as eyes and ears. 

“We’ll keep you safe,” Geki assured Sienna, giving a proper bow with a grin. “Thanks so much for the nice time!”

She smiled. “I’m glad you all enjoyed yourself!”

“Thanks for the tip with the conditioner!” Ichi said as he stepped out the door, running his hand through his long mohawk.

“Of course, long hair is such a hassle!” She laughed to herself at how much she had been able to unwind through the evening.

Jab gave her a more formal bow as he backed towards the door. “I’ll give a report first thing in the morning, milady.” He was herded quickly away by Nachi and Ban before he could hold her captive for one more conversation. 

Sighing with a smile as she bade him goodbye as well, she closed the door and turned to the remaining knights in her cabin. 

With the chatter having died down quite a bit with half the guest list leaving, the five bronzes weren’t sure what to do. Opting to sit once more at the sofas, Magnus steeled himself to sit on the opposite side of the sofa Shaun chose. 

Looking across to see him, she smiled and moved in closer. “Looks like you wound up having some fun after all!”

“Yeah.” He moved in closer as well. “Well I mean, I promised I’d try, right?”

“Good to know you keep your promises.”

Two feet apart now, at last they both had the opportunity they’d been waiting for all night. And right on cue, their minds went completely blank.

Shaun opened her mouth to speak again, but closed it just as quickly. Magnus was in the same boat, looking across the table at a reclined Long and Seiya as Sienna returned to join them. 

As all of them got settled into their spots, the bronzes looked to each other with an awkward silence. They might have gotten to know the other bronzes tonight, but the five of them had endured more than just a contest together. In all the small chatter they didn’t really have much time to speak with each other. 

“Should we call it a night then?” asked Long.  
“To be honest I’m not really tired,” Shaun answered. 

Sienna agreed. “It’s a shame this place doesn’t have any board games.”

When she mentioned games, Seiya snapped his fingers. “Oh, right! I had an idea once things settled down a bit.”

“Really?” asked Shaun. “What is it?”

“You’ll see! Sienna, would you happen to have a big bowl lying around?”

Intrigued, she rose from her seat. “Yeah, the one with the chips from the party. I’ll go get it.”

Curious to see what he meant, the others waited for Sienna to return with a big glass bowl and Seiya with a plastic bag. They helped to clear the coffee table so Sienna could put the bowl down. Seiya meanwhile rummaged through the bag and pulled out two things: a six-pack of hard lemonade, and a large bag of M&Ms. 

“This is a game we used to play whenever we had someone come into the orphanage,” Seiya explained as he opened the bag of candies and dumped its contents into the bowl. 

“We’ll go around and take turns picking up an M&M while closing our eyes. Depending on the color, you tell us something about yourself.”

“So then what’s the hard lemonade for?” asked Magnus. 

“Oh that’s just for us to enjoy,” Seiya said with a devilish grin.

Sienna’s eyes grew in alarm. “How on earth did you get these, we’re only nineteen!” 

“I know a guy around Oakland who owed me a favor,” he explained, pulling out a bottle opener from his pocket.

“Nice, haven’t had one of these in a while,” said Long, passing around the opened bottles.

Shocked as Sienna still was, she was at least impressed. For all she knew she might like it, only having been allowed wine at parties with her grandfathers. 

“Well then, cheers!” Long said, all of them clinking their bottles and taking a sip together. The bronzes laughed as Sienna met vodka for the first time with a grimace. 

“So then, I’ll show you how it works,” Seiya said, closing his eyes and reaching into the bowl.

“Ok, so it’s a red one!” he said, holding it up. “Red is for music you like or don’t like.” He leaned back as he took a sip from his bottle. “I love Queen!”

“Oh, I like them too!” Shaun chimed in.

Seiya held his bottle like a microphone and stood up, pointing to Shaun. “I see a little silhouetto of a man,”

Shaun jumped up, using her bottle as a microphone too. “Skaraboosh skaraboosh will you do the fandango?” 

Together they finished the verse with gusto. “Thunderbolts and lightning, very very frightening me!” 

Long and Sienna cheered while Magnus politely clapped. 

“Didn’t realize this would be dinner and a show,” Long joked, “and we got front seats!”

More of Sienna’s formalities began to melt away. “I’m loving this already,” she cheered, sitting up on her seat with her knees tucked in. “Long, you go next!”

“Alright, let’s see here,” he said, plucking another candy from the bowl without looking. “Okay, what’s green?”

Seiya took a second to recall. “Green is about food, what you like or don’t like.”

“Easy. Shunrei’s congee with baozi. I could eat it for the rest of my life.”

“Shunrei’s? Where’s that? Somewhere in Chinatown?” Sienna asked. “I know you said you’re from there.”

Magnus pointed to him with bottle in hand. “Maybe the question should be who’s that?” 

Intrigued oohs passed around the room while they waited for Long to answer. 

“Well, a gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell,” he smirked, taking another sip while everyone save Magnus cried out in surprise.  
For the first time that night, arguably ever, the group saw Long give a genuine, soft smile. “And that’s all you get,” he finished, taking another sip. “Sienna, I believe you’re up.”

Grinning from ear to ear, she pulled her own chocolate from the bowl. “Let’s see, what’s yellow, Seiya?”

“Yellow is a talent you have. Though if we’re being honest don’t we kind of all have superpowers as talents?”

They all laughed, and even Magnus joined in with a chuckle. The vodka in the lemonade was hardly potent, so he was nearly halfway done with his bottle.

Out of the corner of her eye Shaun watched Magnus ease up a bit, pleased that this side of him could be appreciated by everyone else. Of course, when he caught her looking his way, she whipped her head back to Sienna. “So, any talents a mere mortal might have?”

“Uh, well,” she stammered, taking another sip of the lemonade and scrunching her face from the taste, “Oh, I can play the piano.”

“Cool! I play guitar,” said Seiya with a touch of pride.

“Me too, actually!” Shaun chimed in. “I’m not that great though, but I want to keep practicing when I go back home.”

Sienna clasped her hands together. “Well, I guess when this is all over we’ll start a band!” 

“Oh! My turn next!” Shaun closed her eyes and dove in for a chocolate. “It’s brown!”

“Oh! That one’s actually kind of a wild card,” Seiya explained. “You say whatever you want about yourself!”

“Oh, really?” She paused, trying to think of what to say.

Magnus waited, downing more of the lemonade. The vodka was hardly potent, so more than half of it was gone.

In a wild scramble to say something, anything, she shut her eyes and said the first thing that came to mind. 

“I still have my old teddy bear!”

As the words came out of her mouth, she felt heat rise to her cheeks again. Maybe that wasn’t the right thing to say as a knight to a bunch of other knights.

“I can’t believe I said that out loud,” she giggled nervously. “Glad Jab didn’t hear me say that, I probably wouldn’t hear the end of it.”

“Screw him, I kept a few things from when I was a kid too!” Seiya said, kicking his feet back as he took another sip of his drink. He said, giving a knowing look over to Sienna. “You remember?”

Sienna strained to remember, but eventually did. “Oh! That drawing!”

Seiya grinned and took a folded piece of paper out his pocket.

“What is it?” Shaun asked with curiosity.

“Just an old doodle,” he said, tucking it back into his pocket. Clearly its contents were something he would rather keep private.

“I’ve kept a memento or two myself,” Magnus added.

“Really?” asked Shaun, turning to him.

He felt uneasy with her eyes on him. “Y-yeah, I’ve got it back in Sanctuary though. Anyway, my turn I guess?” Closing his eyes and plucking a candy from the bowl, he held it up. “Blue.”

“Right, ok. So blue is something about where you’re from,” explained Seiya.

“Sanctuary,” he answered, fiddling with the candy in his hand. “Back to you, Seiya.”

“I think he means where you were born, something like that,” Sienna clarified.

Of course he knew that, he just didn’t want to properly answer the question. Shaun could sense the unease in his eyes as he rolled the candy between his finger and thumb.

“Only if you want to,” cautioned Shaun. 

“Yeah man, no pressure,” assured Seiya.

Somehow Magnus looked lost in the candy, his eyes focused on and away from it. He leaned his head against his free hand. 

“Sweden,” he finally answered. “But I trained in a Russian village called Kohoutek.” To say anything else was bringing back a literal flood of memories he didn’t want to relive. 

“You know, it’s been a hell of a week. I think I’m gonna turn in,” he said, finishing off the bottle and standing up. “I’ll see you guys in the morning.”


	8. Chapter 8

He couldn’t sleep. For one thing, he felt uneasy with how willingly he almost opened up to a complete set of strangers. Even if he was on their team now, having betrayed Sanctuary (another thing he didn’t want to worry about), he wasn’t ready to just spill all his guts like that.

Secondly, Seiya was a kicker.

He had lost when drawing straws, thus stuck sleeping with him in the same bed. He slid his eyes over to Long in the bed across the way. Not only did the calm and collected Dragon Knight sleep shirtless, blanket kicked down to his ankles, but he was still as a stone. But ogling his teammate wasn’t helping him put his mind at ease. 

Figuring a glass of water would help, he rose from bed and headed for the kitchen. Passing the dark and shadowed living room on the way, he saw the couches still arranged in the same huddled fashion, the now empty bottles huddled together next to the slightly emptier bowl of candy. 

On their own they were unsurprising, but what startled him was the cloaked figure sitting on one of the couches with a glowing light in its hand. When an arm stuck out of the cloak to grab a handful of M&Ms before tucking back in, his wariness left in an instant.

Shaun couldn’t sleep either. The odd schedule of the last few days threw her off. But even on a normal day it was tricky. With her earphones in and her focus on a funny video, she was fit to jump out of her skin when she felt a tap on her shoulder. 

Popping her head out from under her blanket, she found Magnus sitting on the edge of the table with a glass of water in hand. 

“You on patrol?” he asked her.

Shaun plucked the earphones out. “I’m just antsy on some nights.”

“You think all this sugar’s gonna help?”

“Probably not, but it’s been a while since I’ve been able to live a little.”

A beat of silence passed as Magnus looked out the large window against the wall. 

“It’s nice here, isn’t it?”

Shaun nodded, joining him in looking outside. “As much as I love the ocean, it’s nice to finally get off the island.”

“The island?”

“Where I trained,” she explained. “Andromeda Island.”

“A bit on the nose there, huh?”

She shrugged. “I doubt knights are famous for their naming conventions.”

They took a moment to enjoy stillness. The deep of the night cloaked the trees in shadow and indigo. The silhouetted branches swayed at the breeze, tapping on the window. 

“Magnus, did we make you uncomfortable earlier?” 

He strummed his fingers against the glass of water, trying as best he could to articulate.

“It was an unexpected question. I think I’m still trying to process everything that’s gone on since our time in the desert, in the volcano, all of it. It’s a little too early for me to put myself out there like that.”

Shaun nodded. “That’s completely fair. Well, if ever you’re ready, we’re here for you.”

Magnus’ master had taught him to never trust such an obvious olive branch. Yet the warmth in her voice and smile in her eyes moved past his urge to distrust. He wanted it to be true.

When Shaun reached for another handful of chocolate, Magnus slid the bowl closer to help her out.

“You know,” he said, moving the bowl to his lap. “Maybe I should practice with one person first. You know, to get the hang of it.”

The nervous laugh escaped from him once again. Shaun did her best to keep the little flutter in her chest under control.

“Sounds fine to me,” she said, shifting herself to face the bowl as well. Shining the flashlight of her phone onto the bowl, she turned to him. “You first. Seiya’s not looking, so I’ll let you pick the color.”

Grateful for the gift of choice, Magnus fished for a yellow M&M. “I can do a backflip.”

“Pretty cool,” she said, “my turn. Hold the phone?”

Taking it in his hands, Shaun reached for a candy. With the blanket dropping off her shoulders, Magnus could make out something that was sitting on her lap. Out of curiosity, he moved the light over to what it was.

“Is that the teddy bear you were talking about?”

Shaun smiled and nodded. A worn out and well-loved thing, Shaun propped it on the sofa arm. When she turned back to Magnus, he seemed expectant.

“Well?”

Shaun blinked. “Well, what?”

“Aren’t you going to introduce me?” he asked, gesturing to the bear that slumped against a cushion. 

She raised her brow in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

“Come now,” he said, putting down the bowl. “If you two have known each other for so long, it seems rude to just plop them over there, doesn’t it?”

Shaking her head in disbelief, she brought the bear back. “This is Mrs. Fuzzyflowers, and she says how do you do.” Shaun made the bear’s floppy limbs mimic a bow.

“It’s a pleasure,” Magnus said, mimicking the motions. 

“This is insane,” Shaun said, the grin on her face betraying her enjoyment of the charade. 

“Well that’s a rather rude thing to say with Mrs. Fuzzyflowers right here, don’t you think?”

Shaun broke into a chortle. Magnus had no idea where this bout of silliness in him had come from, but he felt encouraged to keep it up. Making her laugh was bringing him much needed levity and the familiar warmth to his ears he felt when talking to her in the shop.

“And I mean think about it. I tried to murder Sienna and the rest of you, we took down muscle masses three times our size, and somebody made headstones with our names on them and buried fakes of our bodies. I think introducing myself to your lifelong companion Mrs. Fuzzypants here is the most rational thing that’s happened this week.”

Shaun rocked back into the sofa, clutching her gut with laughter. Even he couldn’t help but join in when he reflected on the absurdity. It was a herculean task to keep quiet, but they managed. 

“The crazy thing is you’re right,” she replied once she had settled down. “Very well then, I’m sure she’ll forgive me for my rudeness. Should we get back to the game, then?”

“Sure, why not.”

Leaving the bear on her lap again, Shaun took the phone as Magnus held the bowl again. She plucked out a brown M&M. 

“One of these days, I want to travel to Tokyo,” she told him.

“Really?”

Shaun nodded. “I want to see the city and try all the food. I’m sure it’s nothing like where I’m from. Though I was reading that in this city, you can get a lot of the food they have over there.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised. Maybe the others could show us where it is.”

Shaun nodded, taking a mental note to ask the locals in the morning. “More than that though, I’d love to try their hot springs and climb Mt. Fuji. Honestly, I’m not really sure why I’m so drawn to going there.”

Magnus shrugged. “Does there need to be a reason?”

“I guess not, huh? Anyway, you’re up!”

More turns passed, each of them sharing things about each other. Every little snippet alleviated the weight of all that had happened in the past few days. Betrayals, battles, broken faiths and forged bonds were just the backdrop, resting unremarkably in the dark shapes of the trees and the shadows in the room. Only what a cellphone light illuminated mattered; in the present moment, both had relief in a growing human connection.

“Oh jeez,” Shaun said when her eye fell on the time. An hour had passed since Magnus had first arrived for water. “I guess we ought to get to bed, shouldn’t we?”

“You finally tired?” Magnus asked, his eyelids reluctantly growing heavy.   
“Finally,” she said in the middle of a yawn. “Oh, before you go let me show you that funny dog video I was telling you about earlier.”

“Oh, sure,” he said, grunting as he rose from the coffee table. He hadn’t realized how stiff his back had gotten from being hunched over, so flopping onto the soft couch was a welcome change. 

As Shaun fumbled with her knotted headphones to share an earbud with him, the light of her phone caught a glimmer around Magnus’ neck. Taking another quick look before resuming her detangling, she noted it was a silver chain, the lower end of which lay tucked under Magnus’ nightshirt. Figuring it was too late to ask about it, she went ahead and gave him the freed earpiece and tapped the screen to start the video. 

Having to inch closer together for a better view, the two smiled and laughed at the video’s antics. In the hazy aura of the deep night, the video became secondary to what really had a hold of their attention. 

In being closer together, they caught the lingering scent of each other’s fragrances.

“Hey,” Magnus said as the light flowery scent caught him. “I don’t think anyone else got perfume, did they?”

The subtle musk of his cologne had her attention, too. “Don’t think so.”

Their half-sleepy eyes met. 

“I thought it was a good idea for the party,” Magnus quickly said, hoping the flush in his face didn’t show. 

It had. Shaun looked back down to the video. “Yeah, me too.”


End file.
